Compare Reali and HomeVestors

For Sellers

Listing Rate
$950-$9,950
Flat Fee
Minimum commissions and other terms may apply. Buyer's Agent Commission (2.5%-3%) is not included, but sellers may be able to negotiate this as well.

For Sellers

Radius Agents
30%
Referral Fee
In 2019 Reali has entered into a market allocation agreement with Radius Agent to farm out clients Reali is unable to serve in exchange for referral fees to random real estate agents.

For Sellers

Cash Offers
30%
Home Equity
HomeVestors does not provide real estate services to home sellers. Instead, local franchisees buy homes directly, repair and resell or rent them to tenants. Typically an offer equal to 70% of home value is expected from this type of sale after any cost of the repairs and resale.

For Buyers

Buyer’s Savings
$950-$9,950
Flat Fee
When Reali represents home buyers, it keeps only $950-$9,950 of its entire Buyer's Agent Commission (2.5%-3%), the rest of the amount is refunded to the buyer as a way to financially compete for buyer’s business. Home buyers do not pay any taxes on the amount, the refund amount is always tax-free.

For Buyers

Radius Agents
30%
Referral Fee
In 2019 Reali has entered into a market allocation agreement with Radius Agent to farm out clients Reali is unable to serve in exchange for referral fees to random real estate agents.

For Buyers

Not Applicable
0
No Rates
HomeVestors does not provide real estate services to home buyers. Instead, local franchisees buy homes directly, repair and resell or rent them to tenants.
Question: What is the difference between Reali and HomeVestors?
Answer: Reali is a full-service real estate agent that offers savings to homebuyers and home sellers while HomeVestors is a direct home cash buyer that buys select homes off-market with cash offers and resells them at a profit to homebuyers
Compare Reali and HomeVestors for home buying and selling. HomeOpenly is an impartial and an open resource focused on trending real estate services, portals and start-ups.

First published: 17 February 2019
Last updated: 25 April 2021

Buying and Selling with Reali

Reali is a California-based savings broker, offers consumers listing savings and buyer’s refunds in select areas across Northern and Southern California.

Reali Pricing

Reali offers flat fee listing at $950 for homes up to $250,000, $4,950 for homes up to $750,000, and $9,950 for homes priced over $750,000. Buyers receive a 100% refund of the Buyer’s Agent Commission (2.5%-3%) at the close of sale, minus a fee set at $950 for homes up to $250,000, $4,950 for homes up to $750,000, and $9,950 for homes priced over $750,000.

When Reali is unable or unwilling to provide services to buyers or sellers, it allocates consumers using a referral fee network called Radius Agent in exchange for a 30% referral fees.

Listing Services

  • MLS Listing
  • Zillow, Trulia, etc. Listing
  • Accept and Deliver All Offers and Counteroffers
  • Hold Open Houses
  • Professional Photography
  • Professional Floor Plans
  • Yard Signage Installation
  • Spare Key Lock-box Installation
  • Schedule Inspection Services
  • Schedule Private Showings
  • Closing Duties

Buyer's Agent Services

  • Find the Property
  • Accept and Deliver All Offers and Counteroffers
  • Recommend Other Professionals
  • Attend Inspection Services
  • Schedule Private Showings
  • Negotiate Needed Repairs
  • Closing Duties

Reali Editor's Review:

Reali is a consumer-focused real estate agent that successfully represents consumers across California and offers sizeable savings.

Reali pricing structure closely resembles a listing rate set at 1% of a home sale or a refund set at 67% for buyers; it is highly transparent.

Reali Agents are salaried client-service focused employees measured by customer satisfaction who are not motivated by commissions. Reali is a technology-driven agent that offers customers tools and data to drive an efficient real estate transaction process.

Reali service includes posting home on the MLS and MLS Aggregator services, professional photos and 3D images in addition to all typical services offered by a traditional real estate agent. Reali gives sellers access to a well-designed dashboard with great communication features.

For Buyers, Reali offers real-time listing notifications, on-demand home tours and a client web portal for monitoring the purchase process - making it easier to find and buy homes. Overall Reali offers an excellent proposition to Buyers and Sellers alike.

Consumer Allocation with Radius Agent

In 2019 Reali has entered into a market allocation agreement with Radius Agent to farm out clients Reali is unable to serve in exchange for referral fees to random real estate agents. Reali declined to comment on our request for details, but generally, the Radius Agent platform allows brokers to trade consumers’ information with other brokers in exchange for 30% in referral fees.

Radius Agent keeps a portion of the fee and Reali receives the rest. Consumer brokering is an act of selling information of potential home buyers and home sellers (paid referrals) between real estate brokers, in exchange for a cut of a broker’s commission.

Brokers on each side of the adopted scheme, cause direct damage to the real estate representation market with reverse competition, hidden referral fees, limited choices to consumers, unnecessary high commissions, and client confusion. Since these random referred brokers are not employed by Reali, they cannot offer consumers the same rates and benefits as Reali, in fact, Reali can never dictate any terms of such agreements.

Farming out leads with Radius Agent to random brokers is a pay-to-play scheme that serves no benefit to consumers. Consumers are highly likely to overpay for listing commissions and receive little or no refund when their information is traded as a commodity with use of the Radius Agent network. The added junk fee makes it impossible for agents to offer consumers competitive market rates.

Where does Reali operate?

Reali currently operates in select areas across California.

Buying and Selling with HomeVestors

HomeVestors (also known as We Buy Ugly Houses) is a franchise network where each individual local franchisee considers the condition of a home and makes an offer to pay cash for the property. In determining the offer, each franchisee discounts from the estimated retail value after it’s fully renovated.

HomeVestors Pricing

HomeVestors franchisees make money with a difference between buying and selling each home. Typically an offer equal to 70% of home value is expected from this type of sale after any cost of the repairs and resale.

Listing Services

  • This Service Does Not Represent Sellers

Buyer's Agent Services

  • This Service Does Not Represent Buyers

HomeVestors Editor's Review:

HomeVestors franchisee will buy a home at a price that is below market value due to necessary repairs, renovation, and other factors. After the franchisee buys the home, it renovates and resells it for a profit or rents it out to qualified tenants.

With the low offer price, comes a convenience of an all-cash closing when selling a home. HomeVestors franchisee typically closes a home in 30 days of receiving cash offer.

Typically each franchisee uses the following factors when determining the offer: existing condition of the home including repairs needed, time it will take to finish needed repairs, value of a home compared to other comparable homes in the area, real estate commission required to resell, costs associated with maintaining a home during repairs, including taxes, payments, insurance, utilities and homeowner dues.

The main disadvantage of using HomeVestors is high losses in homeowners' equity. HomeVestors is a "heavy" model, ready to buy homes in all-cash transactions.

As any real estate investor, HomeVestors franchisee is susceptible to losing money in any given transaction. This model is prone to a number of risk factors, high operational costs and a continued need for higher-than-average Return on Investment (ROI) with each flip.

HomeVestors franchisee is not legally bound to represent consumers, its main legal obligation is to its stakeholders. Moreover, because most homes in the United States are financed, homeowners own only partial net equity in their home.

Banks receive the same amount of the remaining mortgage sum regardless of how any given home is sold, or how much of homeowners' net equity is lost in the transaction with HomeVestors.

Today, there are a number of highly qualified real estate agents who offer competitive listing rates and flat fee listings across the United States. Unless a situation absolutely requires a quick sale, HomeOpenly recommends that consumers first consider using a licensed real estate agent working on competitive terms to properly list their homes on the open market before turning to HomeVestors option.

Guide References for HomeVestors:

Selling a home using an iBuyer

Where does HomeVestors operate?

HomeVestors currently operates in select areas across United States.